Side Hustle Pro

Side Hustle Pro spotlights bold black women entrepreneurs who have scaled from side hustle to profitable business. Join Chief Side Hustler turned full-time entrepreneur Nicaila Matthews Okome for your weekly installment of Side Hustle Pro and learn actionable strategies to start small and get going–wherever and whoever you are. Side Hustle Pro features interviews with inspiring black women entrepreneurs including interviews with Myleik Teele of CurlBox, Lisa Price of Carol's Daughter, Nicole Walters of The Monetized Life, Maya Elious of Built to Impact, and more!

Today on the show, we have a woman who’s hustle inspires me.Her name is Denequa Williams and she is the maker and owner of luxury soy candle company, LIT Brooklyn. Every candle is candle is hand poured, packaged, and shipped from Brooklyn. Within a year of it's existence, she has been featured in some of your favorite publications, Essence, Ebony, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, BuzzFeed & more.Now LIT Brooklyn is still a young company, but it seems like for the past year, every event I was at, she was at. Not only that, but she would make sure that her candles were in the hands of guests attending that event. Lo and behold, people would go home, use the product and before you know it were sharing on social media and talking about this amazing product.What better way to round out the theme of How to create, sell and market your physical products, than to talk to an entrepreneur who is learning on the go, making it work and pushing through real, life personal challenges to make it by any means necessary.

On this episode, Denequa dishes on:

Not being afraid to ask for help

Networking the smart way

Creating a product that people would be proud to own and share

How she found the strength to keep going through personal tragedy

This episode wraps up our theme for the month, which isHow to Create, Sell and Market Your Physical products.

Announcements

Side Hustle Pro is now over 2200 members strong. If you’re looking for a community of supportive side hustlers who are all working to take our businesses to the next level, join us here:http://sidehustlepro.co/facebook

Social Media Info

Myleik Teele has revolutionized the way women address their curly hair needs. As the founder of curlBOX, an exclusive monthly subscription box full of amazing products, she has garnered partnerships with Procter & Gamble, Carol’s Daughter, Walmart, Target, SheaMoisture and more.

On Today's show, Myleik shares:

What led her to be an entrepreneur

The most surprising part of starting curlBOX

How we as entrepreneurs can push past the need for approval

Her thoughts on taking that leap even when you're not ready

PLUS, get ready to hear a special listener edition of lightning round, where she answers questions from listeners in the Side Hustle Pro community

This episode is brought to you by Freshbooks. You can get a free, unrestricted 30 day trial of Freshbooks, just go to FreshBooks.com/SideHustlePro ​and enter SIDE HUSTLE PRO ​in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section

Announcements

Side Hustle Pro is now over 2100 members strong. If you’re looking for a community of supportive side hustlers who are all working to take our businesses to the next level, join us here:http://sidehustlepro.co/facebook

Today in the guest chair, we have a woman by the name of Agatha Achindu. Agatha is not only a dedicated mother and entrepreneur but also a chef and as a child growing up in Cameroon she ate only the freshest organic foods from her family's Gardens and local markets.

But after her son's birth in 2004 she struggled to find meals for him which were just as delicious and nutritious. So that set her on her journey to create yummy spoonfuls. Determined, she took to her kitchen to create meals packed with healthy organic ingredients—and nothing else. Soon, she began filling casual orders for friends and—in 2006— Yummy Spoonfuls® was born. On today’s episode we get into the details of that journey.

Agatha shares the real deal about:

What went into creating a food product

Getting the license to sell it

Finding a place to manufacture it in bulk

Getting her brand into major retailers

Plus, she’ll share how she partnered with fellow mom and entrepreneur, Camila Alves, to expand Yummy Spoonfuls® and fulfill their collective vision of providing fresh, organic foods to babies and tots.

This episode is brought to you by FreshBooks.If you want to create and send branded invoices in no time like me, Freshbooks has a special offer for my Side Hustle Pro listeners. You can get a free, unrestricted 30 day trial of Freshbooks, just go toFreshBooks.com/SideHustlePro​and enter SIDE HUSTLE PRO ​in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section

Announcements

Side Hustle Pro is now over 2100 members strong. If you’re looking for a community of supportive side hustlers who are all working to take our businesses to the next level, join us here:http://sidehustlepro.co/facebook

Today’s show, is all about theLegal Aspects of Entrepreneurship.

A few episodes back, I opened up the show for Q&A and many of you had some burning legal questions that you were dying to get answered. So today I’ve invited attorney Art Steele to the guest chair.

Art Steele is a tax lawyer who founded her own law firm in 2014 with practice areas in: small business counseling, international trusts and estate planning, immigration, and foreign tax compliance.

Before launching her law firm, Art began her legal career as a transactional tax associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP in Washington, D.C. She later worked as Tax Counsel for Global Tax Planning at Discovery Communications in Silver Spring, M.D. Her international tax background brings a unique perspective when advising clients regarding small business formation, estate planning and immigration.

Art is also an Adjunct Professor of Wills, Trusts and Estates at American University Washington College of Law and is barred in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

This episode is brought to you by FRESHBOOKS. Freshbooks has a special offer for my Side Hustle Pro listeners. You can get a free, unrestricted 30 day trial of Freshbooks, just go toFreshBooks.com/SideHustlePro​and enter SIDE HUSTLE PRO ​in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section

Today on the show, we have a woman who dived into an industry she knew absolutely nothing about and with sacrifice and grind, has been able to grow a profitable company.

Her name is Kim Lewis and she is the Creator of CurlMix. I first learned about CurlMix when I went to a conference where Kim was a vendor. I saw her table set up and the eye catching CurlMix boxes and I remember thinking, what a cool idea, I wonder what goes into producing those. Later, we connected on Facebook and through her daily updates, I really get to see the behind-the-scenes of building a new, young company from the ground up.

One of the reasons I was and continue to be so in awe of Kim, is that she has accomplished so much under the age of 30. And that’s not to say us over 30 peeps aren’t as impressive when we start companies. I’m just always fascinated by people, especially black women, who are starting companies at an age when I was having a quarter life crisis and still figuring out my next career moves.

On today’s episode, Kim gets into:

What starting her first (and unprofitable company) taught her about being a business owner

The importance of validating your idea

How she secured press coverage BEFORE her launch

Why if you're completely happy with the first version of your business, you waited too long to launch

Links mentioned on this episode

Announcements

Side Hustle Pro is now over 2000 members strong. If you’re looking for a community of supportive side hustlers who are all working to take our businesses to the next level, join us here: http://sidehustlepro.co/facebook